I'm starting the body work on my 83 T/A. It has some major fender gap issues. Anyone see anything this bad? I know that the fit and finish on these cars weren't the best, but there's no way it was like that new! Both doors have almost a 7/16 gap at the rear, and I don't even know what to say about the fender to door gaps. I'm thinking I'm going to have to add metal to clean it up. Any better ideas?

 

Here's another pic, trust me, it looks worse in real life!

 

As far as I can tell, your door may need to go to the rear a hair. The leading edge of the door looks to be folded over, and you need to straighten that back out. Once you get the door to quarter gap right, loosen up the front end and start bringing that back. How are the bushings in the door hinges? There is something funny with the rear gap that doesn't look right. Has the car ever been wrecked? It might be worth throwing it on a frame rack and seeing if it isn't twisted slightly. All of the panel adjustment in the world won't fix a twisted shell.

 

That orange peel is insane! Your door has some damage that wasn't properly fixed.hint the deep sand scratches. Best thing to do is align the doors to the quarters first.Hinge to pillar has alot of wiggle room.also you need a spoon dolly to help align your fender. Also alot of dumb people used to jam our cars up where the fender bolts up which will fold and ruin the gaps. You need to bend it back and then your gaps will improve.

 

I see what you mean about how it looks like its folded over, but it is not. Both sides of the car are that way. I already repaired the bottom seam. I did that first. I cannot move the front end back because the center of both doors sometimes rub the fender they are so close. when I move the doors back, that gap should be about right. its like the curve on the doors are different than the fenders. I don't think that it has been wrecked, the doors and fenders are original to the car as far as I can tell. Did the early cars have problems like this? The only solution I can come up with is to add metal to the gaps

 

The gaps bad, but that orange peel paint is worse.

 

Did someone jack up the car under the lower fender mount (pinchweld area?)

 

I'm not worried about the orange peel right now, it's getting painted. Yes it was jacked up by the pinch weld, I've already fixed that. I'm just going to tighten up the gaps and weld in extra metal where needed. Does anyone know what the gaps are supposed to be?

 

When it gets jacked up on the pinch weld, there is more in the fender that gets bent and that's prolly y you have nasty gaps.

 

well I spent some time working on the gaps, I raised the front of the doors and that allowed me to move them back too. There's still gonna be some grinding and welding involved, but its manageable now. I'll post pics of my progress.